USA Today gets blog figures (really, really) wrong
Duncan Riley> Most mainstream media sources have corrected their ways in 2005, with most now at least getting close to accurately referring to the number of blogs in the blogosphere, but not the USA Today.
Del Jones writes in an article about CEO blogs that there is now 8.5 million bloggers in the blogosphere, and even justifies the figure by referencing it to Technorati.
One problem though, not only is Technorati about to hit 10 million blogs tracked, but even David Sifry on occasion notes that this figure is not representative of the whole of the blogosphere, only the sites Technorati tracks. For example, when was the last time you saw a South Korean blog on Technorati? Reports indicate that there are 15 million blogs in South Korean alone.
How about the fact that SixApart hosts over 8 million blogs alone on its 3 properties, LiveJournal, TypePad and MovableType. MSN Spaces has 7 million blogs as a at 21 April and probably even more now, and Google has millions again. So how in the world does the USA Today come up with 8.5 million. It’s called LAZINESS, and if ever there was a better example as what’s wrong with the MSM it’s this constant laziness in reporting alleged “fact” that is causing the damage. Where once the MSM was regarded as the source of truth, their laziness continues to cause them more and more damage. Del Jones, wake up and smell the blogosphere, because its about to bite you and your mates.
You don’t have a clue how many blogs there are. Adding up the numbers of so-called by Blogger, MSM and others says zip. You can use technorati numbers, which is close to what usa reports, and say that’s how many blogs. This obession with numbers is just so much crap and says nothing about “blogs.” Frankly, if there were 8.5 million blogs an area like DC metro, where I live probably should have 100,000 or so blogs. There aren’t 100K in this area. No way. No how. If there are 2,000 blogs that are updated on a semi-regular basis I’d be surprised. These numbers are so much BS, and stop acting like you know how many blogs there are and USA Today doesn’t. It’s all BS.
KOB, do your research. The numbers may be over inflated but there’s a heck of a lot more to the blogosphere than what USA today reports.
KOB,
its not BS, and as I’ve said previously no one knows exactly how many blogs there are, but we can make an educated guess based on reported figures and other sources. The problem, particularly with some in the American media, is that they think the WORLD stops at the border with Canada and Mexico. There are a lot more bloggers than 8.5 million, thats one thing I’m very, very sure of. By the way, there are over 14,000 blogs in the District of Columbia on Live Journal alone, so your probably add at least another zero to your 2000, but most closer to 100,000 I’d think given the high density of political bloggers in DC, and of a population of 7.6 million, statistically this would be low as a percentage if it was 100,000. If you believe some of the studies, blogging is now somewhere between 3-7% of the population, so you’d be looking at at least 250,000.
Live Journal may report 14,000 blogs in the District of Columbia but many, I suspect are dead or fictions.
I’ve been working hard to ID blogs in the DC area, following link upon link to discover new and interesting links; it’s part of a research project for my own blog.
I look all over the place, and my effort so far turns up numbers that are a tiny by comparison.
I’m looking for blogs that are updated somewhat regularly; one month is usually a nice threshold (usually blogs sputter out before they die, so I’ll go as long as three months if the content fall off was sudden)
I’m also looking for an honest effort something other than “Hi, this is my blog. Test.” (You would be surprised) My standards are pretty low.
That’s why I think the so-called claims that are millions upon millions of blogs is utter nonsense, and says nothing about the state of blogs.
If there are 250,000 blogs in the DC area I can safely say that the vast majority are off the radar, not updated, and their authors are making little or no effort to find any exposure. They just don’t register. Sure, there are many family blogs and other private efforts that don’t want to be recognized, but I don’t think those numbers account for tens of thousands of the so-called 250K estimated for DC. .
Moreover, these quantative measures say nothing about the state of blogs.
Once you start digging in the trenches, start in any metro area, a different picture emerges. I’m not listing my blog because I don’t want to be accused of shameless promotion. That’s not my reason for this note. I really believe that that any number of blogs — blogs that actually have content — is far lower than anyone realizes.
Do you own survey. Pick a random area, estimate the number of blogs based on the national numbers, and see how many really turn up in searches, on local aggregation sites, in any directory you can imagine. True, many bloggers don’t reveal location, but most reveal some geo-specific detail. Give it a try, and if your research comes within 10% of whatever your estimate for that area is, I’ll stand corrected.
Cheers,
>By the way, there are over 14,000 blogs in the District of Columbia on Live Journal alone, so your probably add at least another zero to your 2000, but most closer to 100,000 I’d think given the high